Page 1 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

 Division of Compensation Analysis and Support 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

 

 

Memorandum

To: Mound Plant Working Group 

From: Peter Darnell, DCAS Health Physicist 

Subject: Validation and Verification of Mound Databases

Date: September 6, 2016 

BACKGROUND 

During development of the NIOSH responses to the Mound Plant Technical Basis 

Document (TBD) Issues Matrix, questions arose regarding the validation and 

verification (V&V) of several databases used in the reconstruction of doses at Mound. 

This memorandum describes the various databases and provides descriptions: 

1. The quality assurance processes used to develop the list of names for the Mound 

Environmental Safety and Health (MESH) database; 

2. The V&V of the internal dosimetry database; and, 

3. The V&V of the external dosimetry database. 
Page 2 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

GENERAL DISCUSSION 

The MESH Database 

The Mound site created the MESH database between 1988 and 1990 as a single-source 

repository for personnel occupational safety, health, and radiation dose monitoring information.1

In 1989 (Meyer, 1994d),2 MESH became the record database for external dose monitoring 

information after merging the external dose records maintained in the earlier external dose 

databases, the “External Exposure Analysis System” (EXAS), from 1959, and the 

“Environmental Radiation” system (ERAD), from 1977 (Meyer 1994d, pg. 3) . Though Mound 

uploaded some internal dose information to MESH, MESH never became a single dose-of-record 

location for internal dose monitoring results. Rather, internal dose information was kept in hardcopy logbooks. 

Dose Reconstruction Information 

DOE provides records for dose reconstruction in response to EEOICPA Project (Project) 

requests. These records typically include MESH printouts for external dose monitoring and 

tritium bioassay results, database printouts for employees with monitoring for plutonium intakes, 

 

1

 Mound employed the MESH database and quality assurance using formal procedures as described in the 

technical manual, M-10326, NONWEAPONS QUALITY ASSURANCE (NWQA) PLAN FOR THE MOUND 

ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY AND HEALTH (MESH) DATA SYSTEM. References relating to the development of 

MESH are listed in the table below. 

Title SRDB Ref ID

Mound Environmental, Safety and Health System (MESH) 

Implementation Plan 036414

Legacy Management Description of MESH 036415

MESH Subject Areas Display 036416

MESH system overview 036418

MESH Table Definitions 036425

Non-weapons Quality Assurance (NWQA) Plan for the Mound 

Environmental, Safety and Health System (MESH) 048315

2

 Mound’s H.E. Meyer compiled an exhaustive history of Mound external dosimetry program in his History of 

Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993, (Meyer 1994 

a-h), in eight volumes. It consists of several timeline overviews, a 57-page narrative document summarizing 

major activities by year, along with appendices with supporting memoranda and technical documents. Because 

the appendices are interspersed with the narrative in an unusual configuration, and due to the extremely large 

volume of information, for the convenience of the reviewer page numbers are provided for each reference. 
Page 3 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

and database printouts for polonium intake monitoring. DOE provides scans of original records 

for polonium, plutonium, and “other” radionuclides. NIOSH uses all of these records for the dose 

reconstruction process.

1. The list of names used to develop the MESH data 

NIOSH does not maintain a list of names from the MESH database. Instead, DOE provides 

employee records that include MESH information. NIOSH has access to the MESH database. 

DOL does not use the MESH database to establish eligibility for the class established under 

SEC-0090. Instead, the primary tritium records in logbooks identify individuals monitored for 

tritium. NIOSH provided this information to the DOL. 

2. V&V of the internal dosimetry database 

No comprehensive internal dose-monitoring database exists for the Mound site. Mound 

implemented the MESH system as a full-service electronic repository for all Mound employee 

health information, including external and internal dose monitoring. The MESH system, 

however, did not reach full functionality before closure of the site in 2006. 

Herbert Meyer, in his History of Mound Bioassay Programs (Meyer 1992), identifies no 

computerized records; listing logbooks and file cards instead. This is in contrast with the external 

dosimetry records practice, as described in the same author’s external dosimetry program history 

document (Meyer 1994 a-h).

Contractors to the Mound site created the PURECON database in the early 1990s using 

plutonium hard-copy logbooks. Meyer and Reeder (1992) describes the industry-standard 

practices used for quality assurance and control of the data entry. 

The Mound health physics group did not maintain a Polonium database before the Pre-1989 

Dose Reconstruction project conducted by the MJW Corporation (described in more detail 

below). The Mound site completed the polonium program (and stopped performing polonium 

bioassay) in 1973 before efforts were initiated to collect all dose monitoring information in a 

single database such as ERAD or MESH.3 Based on the fields available on the data cards used 

for EXAS, only external dose could be entered in this database (Meyer 1994c, 215—216). In 

addition, logbooks (MJW 2002a, 32) contained results for “Other radionuclides. 4

“ Data for 

 

3

 See section 3 of this document for a description of these databases. 

4

 “Other” radionuclides (as referred to in the Working Group discussions) include uranium, thorium, and other 

radionuclides associated with short- or long-term research projects conducted at Mound. 
Page 4 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

tritium are available in MESH records and include individual bioassay results from September 

1981 onward. 

Creation and QA/QC for PURECON and PORECON 

The University of Lowell (Meyer and Reeder 1992) created the (PURECON -short for 

Plutonium [PU] Reconstruction) database from primary records. The MJW Corporation’s 

internal dose reconstruction project at Mound called the “Pre-1989 Dose Reconstruction” project 

and MJW’s work as part of ORAUT on the EEOICPA project are not related. In addition to 

reconstruction of pre-1989 internal doses, the project 

 Conducted a V&V of the PURECON database; 

 Created a database for polonium data to complement the existing database for plutonium; 

PORECON, (short for POlonium RECONstruction); and, 

 Created Excel Spreadsheets for “other radionuclides” when data contained neither polonium 

nor plutonium results. 

The MJW V&V was a 5% review of the PURECON database against the hard-copy records. It 

found an error rate of approximately 8.2%. This prompted a 100% V&V check because of the 

unacceptable error rate. MJW identified approximately 2347 errors in 58,893 records; an error 

rate of ~ 4% (MJW 2001a, 44). MJW corrected errors in the data as they were identified. 

The MJW reports on the project (MJW 2002a, MJW 2002b) provide details of the review of the 

PURECON database and creation of the PORECON database, including QA/QC methods for 

data entry. The PURECON and PORECON databases, at this time, exist as reference sources of 

information for dose reconstruction. DOE records from the employee files provide internal dose 

monitoring data for individual dose reconstructions.

NIOSH used PURECON, PORECON, and MESH data for the NIOSH/ORAUT internal 

coworker dose studies documented in the technical information bulletin, Internal Dosimetry 

Coworker Data for the Mound Site, Rev 02 (ORAUT 2012). NIOSH did not conduct a V&V of 

these Mound databases for this technical information bulletin. The Mound TBD addresses use of 

the databases: 
Page 5 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

In Section 5.5.1.2, Polonium: 

Primary and secondary records exist in most Mound claim files for polonium bioassay. The dose 

reconstructor should typically use the bioassay results listed in the PORECON database as most 

convenient. However, it is important to review all claim records to ensure the database reflects 

all listed bioassay results in the primary data. 

In Section 5.5.2, Plutonium: 

Primary and secondary records exist in many Mound claim files for plutonium bioassay. The 

dose reconstructor should typically use the listed bioassay results in the PURECON database 

as most convenient. However, it is important to ensure that the database reflects all bioassay 

results that are listed in the primary data. The dose reconstructor will also need to ensure that 

PURECON reflects earlier measurements using the gross alpha methodology and ensure that 

the gross alpha samples were taken as a plutonium intake monitoring program rather than 

another radionuclide that used the gross alpha bioassay method (ORAUT 2013). 

And again in Section 5.8.2: 

The dose reconstructor should keep in mind that both gross alpha and alpha spectrometric 

programs were used to detect 238Pu, and that the PURECON database results should be 

verified against the primary data in claim files, even though PURECON results are typically 

listed as gross alpha results when this is the case (ORAUT 2013). 

3. Validation and verification of the external dosimetry database 

NIOSH did not create a database of external dosimetry information for Mound claims. Instead, 

the dose reconstruction process uses the MESH database printouts supplied in individual claim 

histories as references for external dose information. 

The MESH database, though not comprehensive for internal dosimetry, is the dose-of-record for 

external doses. In September 1989, Mound transferred ERAD data into the MESH database 

(Meyer 1994g, 33). MESH represents the culmination of a series of Mound computer databases 

serving as primary records for external dosimetry. A brief chronology of Mound external dose 

computerized record-keeping methods follows. 

 May 4, 1959: Mound converts from Form 1015-X to “IBM cards” for neutron results. 

Beginning January 2, 1960 (Meyer 1994a, 135), Mound enters all external dosimeter 
Page 6 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

(photon, neutron, and pocket dosimeter) results on IBM cards. Form 1015 cards document 

non-neutron doses in employee files for 1959. Dosimetry technicians record “all data” on 

IBM cards for the EXAS ADP program (Meyer 1994a, 126). 5

 1973: Recovery of individual dosimeter results using EXAS failed. Mound created a report 

documenting the results of all employee external dose monitoring from 1947 through 1973 

(records before late 1949 apply to external dose monitoring for the Dayton Project). The 

report, dated October 28, 1974, contains “annual summaries of individual employee 

exposures” (Meyer 1994c, 208) and is updated annually through 1978 (Meyer 1994c, p. 198). 

 1977: The Mound information technology group (MISD) developed a new database called 

ERAD and implemented it in 1978 (Meyer 1994a, 16). ERAD contains complete Mound 

external dosimeter information (dosimeters issued and zero/non-zero results. 

 1989 (September): ERAD converted to MESH (Meyer 1994g, 33). 

Only electronic data are available from about 1960 onward. Claims with employment before 

1960 have the Mound external dosimetry result forms, Forms 1015 and 1015-X. Some handwritten records remain in employee files dating through the 1950’s and 1960’s 

(NIOSH/ABRWH 2009). Validation and verification of the external dosimetry reference, 

MESH, is possible for only those years with corresponding electronic and handwritten records. 

SC&A (NIOSH/ABRWH 2009) conducted a V&V of 22 of 477 claims from the MESH 

database. The claims selected had starting dates of January 1950 (or later) for comparison of the 

latest MESH database with the handwritten records. The V&V evaluated about 4,000 pages 

covering about 530 occupational years. The review found 100% of the claims had MESH data 

sheets in their DOE records, 99.6% accuracy for photon doses, and 100% accuracy for neutron 

doses. The Mound WG (NIOSH/ABRWH 2009) closed the external dosimetry V&V issue on 

May 27, 2009. 

_____________________________________ 

Peter A. Darnell, CHP, RRPT 

Health Physicist 

 

5

 At first, Mound issued separate IBM cards for pocket dosimeter results. In 1963 (March 17), Mound 

implemented a Kardex system to allow the recording of a year’s data on a single card for each employee. This 

change apparently had no effect on the film dosimeter record-keeping practices. 
Page 7 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

4. REFERENCES 

Meyer, H.E, and D.L. Reeder, Plutonium Historical Dose Reconstruction Program, 

(unpublished), July 31, 1992. SRDB Reference ID 38267. 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994a), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume I, 1946 to 3/22/66. SRDB Reference ID 3268. 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994b), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume II, 3/28/66 to 7/15/69. [SRDB Ref ID 3276] 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994c), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume III, 7/15/69 to 11/76. SRDB Reference ID 3281. 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994d), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume IV, 1/77 to 9/19/78. SRDB Reference ID 3288. 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994e), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume V, 11/3/78 to 6/3/82. [SRDB Ref ID 3297] 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994f), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume VI, 10/11/82 to 2/23/87. [SRDB Ref ID 3299] 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994g), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume VII, 11/18/87 to 10/25/93. [SRDB Ref ID 3303] 

Meyer, H.E., History of Personnel External Dosimetry Program at the Dayton Project and 

Mound Laboratory, 1946 – 1993 (Meyer 1994h), EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, March 1994. Volume VIII, Neutron Film Calibrations. [SRDB Ref ID 3315] 
Page 8 

This working document was prepared by NIOSH’s Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) or its contractor for use in discussions 

with the ABRWH or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and White Paper documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH 

(or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. This document represents preliminary positions taken 

on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor. NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that 

is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and has been cleared for distribution. 

Meyer, H.E., History of Mound Bioassay Programs, EG&G Mound Applied Technologies, 

Miamisburg, Ohio, September 1992. MLM-MU-93-93-0003. SRDB Reference ID 1962. 

MJW Corporation, Pre-1989 Dose Assessment Project, Phase I Final Report, Volume I (Non-SUD 

Version), April 2002, (MJW 2002a) Prepared for BWXT of Ohio, Inc. SRDB Reference ID 8745. 

MJW Corporation, Pre-1989 Dose Assessment Project, Phase II Final Report (Non-SUD Version), June 

2002, (MJW 2002b) Prepared for BWXT of Ohio, Inc., June 2002. SRDB Reference ID 8738. 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team), ORAUT-OTIB-0061, Internal Dosimetry Coworker 

Data for the Mound Site, Rev 02, April 13, 2012, (ORAUT 2012) SRDB Reference ID 111394 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team), ORAUT-TKBS-0016-5, Technical Basis Document 

for the Mound Site – Occupational Internal Dosimetry, Rev 02, April 18, 2013, (ORAUT 2013) SRDB 

Reference ID 124215